Chapter 10: Keeping Nutrients on Farm

10.6 Summary

10.6.1 Significance

10.6.1 Significance

Losing nutrients from a dairy farm is:

wasting increasingly expensive inputs, effectively increasing the cost of production per litre of milk, and

increasing the risk of adverse environmental impacts.

The waste of important nutrient resources and the risk of adverse impacts may trigger community responses which result in increased regulation of farming activities and/or market reactions and trade barriers.

any nutrient or substance that, when added to the soil, promotes plant growth. This definition includes both inorganic and organic fertilisers and also soil conditioners, such as lime and gypsum, which may promote plant growth by increasing the availability of nutrients that are already in the soil or by changing the soil’s physical structure.

fertilisers (fertiliser)

any nutrient or substance that, when added to the soil, promotes plant growth. This definition includes both inorganic and organic fertilisers and also soil conditioners, such as lime and gypsum, which may promote plant growth by increasing the availability of nutrients that are already in the soil or by changing the soil’s physical structure.

DairySAT

an Australian self-assessment tool to improve productivity and environmental outcomes on a dairy farm.

critical source areas

Critical source areas of a nutrient result from the co-location of areas with high levels of that nutrient availability (source areas) with areas with high potential for nutrient movement (transport areas).

compaction

the process whereby soil density is increased as a result of tillage, stock trampling and/or vehicle traffic. Compaction can lead to lower soil permeability. Deep ripping and conservation tillage can alleviate the condition.

buffers (buffer)

processes that constrain or resist change or reduce the shift in pH when acids or bases are added. More generally processes that constrain shifts in the dissolved concentration of any ion, when it is added or removed from the system (i.e. Resist change in concentration).